Teenage Pregnancy Prevalent Among Many Rohingya Asylum Seekers in Malaysia

Author: Dian Kencana
December 12, 2023

Rohingya refugees stand in line. Photo: Reuters

SEAToday.com, Kuala Lumpur-The humanitarian organization, Doctors Without Borders, or Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Malaysia reported that approximately 50% of adolescent Rohingya require girls arriving in the country for prenatal or postnatal care.

The staggering figure comes as three out of four pregnant girls who arrived in Malaysia in the last two years, arrived through arranged marriages to Rohingya men living in Malaysia.

The average age of teenage pregnancy among Rohingya refugees is 15.5 years old, with the youngest being 12.

Many Rohingya families told the organization that economic hardship and dwindling humanitarian funding in many camps in Bangladesh have left many families with no choice but to marry off their daughters to Rohingya men in Malaysia.

MSF Malaysia Chief of Mission, Frouke Pelsma said many of these girls regretted coming, having known the arduous journey it took to arrive in Malaysia. Pelsma also said that many of these women who need access to prenatal care, cannot get it because of their stateless status.

Many who arrived without work or money feared that seeking help would put them at risk of arrest and detention. This fear is partly due to Malaysia's Health Circular 10 of 2001, which requires health workers to report to the immigration department if they provide care to unregistered persons.

Meanwhile, many Rohingya women who have to wait for the U-N High Commission on Human Rights have to wait up to 3 years on a case-by-case basis.

Among the ASEAN member states, only the Philippines, Cambodia, and Timor Leste have acceded to the 1951 refugee convention. This convention established the principle of non-refoulement, which states that a refugee should not be returned to a country where he or she faces a serious threat to their life or freedom.